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Steinbeck writes of Ethan Allen Hawley, who, as the story opens, works as a clerk in the grocery store his family once owned. His wife is restless and upset with the decline in the family's status. His teenage children want more than he can afford. Then, one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to take a holiday from his own scrupulous standards. On discovering that the current store owner, Italian immigrant Alfio Marullo, might be in the country illegally, he places a tip with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Marullo, forced to leave the country, gives the store to Ethan, because he has always seemed so honest and deserving. As Ethan continues to gain status and material wealth, he also continues to tweak his moral code, until he sees that his corrupt behavior is transferring to his family and he must confront the person he has become.